The Inconvenient Truth: Democracy does not fail in The Chamber, it fails in the Committee Room

As NyansaKasa (Words of Wisdom) reflects, Parliament may own the authority, but its committees determine how deeply that authority can see, and when the committees become weak, the whole national boardroom begins governing with blurred vision.

From British select committees influencing government behaviour, to Watergate, to South Africa's engine rooms, the same principle holds: authority may sit in the grand chamber, but effectiveness is manufactured in the committee room.

And if it repeatedly becomes no, the inconvenient truth is unavoidable: Parliament may still have its authority, its Speaker and its magnificent chamber, but if its committees cannot scrutinise effectively, its most important governance engine may already be running on empty.